How to journey from the Nine of Cups towards the Ten of Cups

Yesterday I pulled the Nine of Cups and Death from my Original Rider Waite Tarot and although I am sure I must have pulled the Nine of Cups more often this year, this time at the end of 2017, I remembered it was my card for this year paired up with the rune Perthro.

I was wondering what the Death card had to say about the Nine of Cups because it felt like these two cards were standing at the beginning of an unfinished story but when I tried to pull an outcome card it didn’t make any sense at all.

So next I wondered how Perthro could be tied to the death card. Perthro is the rune of mystery and it sometimes symbolizes the cauldron of transformation. So maybe this rune wasn’t meant to be the tenth cup as I thought in January but perhaps it was meant as a symbol for the cauldron in which we could transform our nine cups filled with our comfortable wishes and happy feelings into something more substantial and sustaining.

And then I asked myself again what the tenth cup could be and I looked at the Death card which suddenly reminded me of the Knight of Cups, who goes on a quest to find his soul’s purpose; his heart’s desire: He is searching the Holy Grail.

Mmm, I suppose this could be the Ace of Cups. So this knight leaves everything he holds dear behind to go on a quest for Love with a capital L. It is the kind of Love which is unconditional, compassionate and which multiplies the more you give it away.  And so we arrive at the Ten of Cups. Empty handed but with a heart filled with Love and we come home to ourselves and our loved ones and everything we hold dear. Yes, all the things which we were able to leave behind at the beginning of our journey are represented in this card only now we are able to enjoy it with such a deep contentment and Love in our hearts.  So sitting with our nine cups is great but if we want to experience them fully we have to let them go and leave our comfort zone to find out what Love is all about.

Ten of Cups – Blessing my loved ones

Today’s card is the Ten of Cups from the Tarot of the Hidden Realm. Traditionally we see a happy family in this card. A culmination of love in all its forms. Yet in this card we see an elderly Fae woman working her magic over a boiling cauldron. This card oozes good intent. With all her love, wisdom and experience she has gathered the herbs for her blessing spell and now when it starts to simmer, she feels the time is right to help the steam carry this loving energy towards her loved ones. Gently and gracefully she moves her hands and softly sings her blessing songs. 

This card reminds me I don’t need to be physically near my loved ones.  I can bless them and wish them well any time and any place.

So for today, I will make an extensive list with everyone dear to me so I can bless them and wish them well on the night of this full moon. A perfect time to work some magic and send my good wishes to all of you and many more…

Ace of Cups – replenishing my Heart

Today’s card is the Ace of Cups from the Goddess Tarot.  In this card, we see the full moon “contained—but not captured—within a golden cup surrounded by the ocean, source of all life”. This is a card of great emotional fulfillment and an abundance of Love. It is a card of generosity; giving Love from your heart without holding back but at the same time it is also a card of receiving this Love, which is freely given and will fill up your Heart to the brim and even more. The only thing we have to do is to be willing and deem ourselves worthy to receive it.

This weekend I have been visiting my mother and the overall experience was good. But I am quite exhausted now, so I wasn’t surprised when this card came up again. It has been following me around for the last four days. J

For today I see it this card as a reminder to take care of myself and do the things which will help me to fill my cup again. So after finishing this blog post, I am taking “the day off” and forget about every  “I have to”  until tomorrow. 

Three of Coins and Two of Cups – Carefully moving closer …

I have been working with the Margarete Petersen Tarot for twelve days in a row now and I can’t seem to put it away and pick up another deck for my daily draws. I am utterly captivated by the beautiful artwork and clear and inspiring messages this deck has to offer.

So for today, I drew the Three of Coins. Where the Two of Coins showed us two balancing feet, in this card we only see one. That means one foot has been lifted and is about to be put forward into a new direction; leaving old familiar patterns behind. The card also features the Om sign, which for me resembles a short prayer, said just before this foot will touch the earth. A prayer of trust that this will be the right path to follow.

And where, I wondered, might this path lead me? And I got the Two of Cups: Opening myself up to others and myself on an emotional level. A sense of belonging is essential to all living beings. It feels when I really open up to myself and to God it is so much more easy to open up to others as well. This card is all about giving and receiving and about loving kindness without expectations. Quite a challenge for me but not one I want to shy away from.

I love that this card strongly relates to The Lovers, which is my card for this lunation.

Love can’t be measured on a scale.

Today’s question for Shadow Work October by Mnomquah on IG was:

Intimacy: How can you strengthen your bond with your loved ones.

For this question I’ve used the Rider Waite Tarot. After having worked with The “darker” decks for a while, for now it feels more comforting to pull from my trusted Rider Waite deck in order to answer these deep and sometimes disturbing questions. So while shuffling my deck to answer the question for today, The Moon jumped out and I pulled the Six of Pentacles myself.

The moon is all about fear and uncertainty, about not being in control and about a lack of trust and boundaries. Mmm… this is a very blunt way of telling me that my social and emotional skills definitely are in need some healing and polishing up. It is true I’ve been let down so many times in my life that I do have trust issues and also a fear of commitment and abandonment. So fear seems to be a  strong  component of my relationships, which is not a good thing at all.

The Six of Pentacles is maybe a good start to examine how my relationships could be improved. This is a card about interdependence. We see a rich man give to  the poor with one hand and he is holding scales in his other hand. He distributes his money equally to the beggars. The question here is always: who are you, the beggar or the rich man?

For me the message for this card today is to get rid of the scales and give from the heart. In loving relationships the amount of giving and receiving don’t have to be equal and measured. It is not about the worth or weight of the gifts but it is about the intention of giving and being open and willing to receive. Sometimes receiving is even harder then giving, because sometimes you have nothing to give back in return, but a heartfelt  “thank you” and the relationship feels unbalanced. This doesn’t have to be true at all for the main component of each relationship is Love and Love can never be measured on a scale. 

The Ace of Cups - Love has to flow freely

Today’s card it the Ace of Cups from the Joie the Vivre Tarot. One of my “sigh” cards; my “all is well” cards. After picking up the pieces yesterday and trying to look at the more positive side of live, this card is an affirmation I am going to be just fine. Because there is always Love which never runs out. Whatever happens, however we feel, there is plenty of Love flowing form Source. We just have to tap into it and be receptive.

The story: Living and breathing the spirit of love, Euphoria knows no end to the flow of beauty she draws forth and exudes. Her cup overflows with the waters of emotional fulfillment. A sprite hovering above the cup holds the key to the heart, and three pink doves offer her loveberries.

When we open our heart this can become our cup. First fill it with Love then share it and Love will flow effortlessly. We are not supposed to hoard Love and be greedy. When we give freely we’ll notice a soft rippling flow and we are able to develop and ongoing river of Loving kindness.

This is of course an ideal situation. So for today I am just going to do some maintenance on my stream bed; clearing some emotional blockages, deepen and broaden my trust in, and awareness of the Love which surrounds me and to really dig deep and try to let go of, or at least acknowledge some very old sediment. This with yesterdays card in mind:  It is not about the end result but so much more about finding honor and gratitude  in the process how to get there